Gasoline shortage due to blockades starts to affect Oaxaca and Chiapas

After 12 days of highway blockades across the state of Oaxaca, shortage of fuel is starting to create a difficult situation for residents not only in Oaxaca, but in Chiapas as well.

Pemex warned on Wednesday June 22 that lack of highway access to the refinery at Salina Cruz means it cannot guarantee the supply of fuel to its markets in Oaxaca and various locations in Chiapas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Yucatán and the State of México.

If the blockades continue, said Pemex chief José Antonio González Anaya, the refinerey will be forced to shut down.

The protest action by members of the CNTE teachers’ union and their allies is intended to press for the repeal of education reforms and the release of union leaders, now in jail facing charges related to the mishandling of funds, money laundering, robbery and others.

In places like Santa Cruz Huatulco, on the Pacific coast, there has been a gasoline shortage for at least two weeks now.

Long lines of cars and motorcycles are becoming a common scene in different towns of Oaxaca and Chiapas, and the situation is expected to get worse as more than 20 blockades are registered on the main roads and highways of the southern state.

Police officers supervise gas stations in places like Santa Cruz Huatulco, to make sure that cars do not refuel more than $500 pesos each.

Other coastal towns in the state of Chiapas such as Metapa de Domínguez, Tapachula, Suchiate and Huixtla have also started to feel the effects of the gasoline shortage, and long lines of vehicles are seen at all gas stations along the road that connects the state of Oaxaca with the border with Guatemala, obviously passing through Chiapas.